Do we really want Medicare for all? Some people think this is the solution to controlling health care costs and providing health insurance for everyone. One insurance policy or provider for everyone! And that one provider is the

Government! Sounds good, but be careful what you wish for. A one-size fits all solution rarely fits anyone.

Don’t we want a policy that just fits our individual needs? We have all seen the car insurance ad that says we will provide “insurance that meets only your needs.” We have many different providers as available options for our car insurance as well as homeowners and renters insurance. We shop, and they compete to provide products that best meet our individual needs. Why shouldn’t we maintain that with our healthcare?

Do we really want to give the government bureaucrats a monopoly on our health insurance? No competitive forces to control pricing and service quality in the government? Government programs never shrink or cut costs, budgets routinely balloon in service to the bureaucracy rather than in service to the citizens.

Our anti-trust laws do not allow commercial companies to control 50% of a market let alone 100%. Yet many of the socialist-oriented candidates, running for President as well as Congress, want to force a single-payer healthcare operation on the public, giving the government 100% control of our healthcare. Why should we do this when 85-90% of us are satisfied with our current commercial health insurance?

Haven’t we seen the failure of Obama care? Service and costs are uncontrolled! Estimates for the future of the program are unaffordable. A single-payer system encourages more fraud. Stories on government payments for false service continue. How many times have taxpayers had to financially bail out Medicare and Medicaid? That will multiply exponentially if the entire healthcare system comes under the government bureaucracy. Remember the 60 Minutes show about the illegal companies in Florida getting paid by the government without even being questioned about their charges or facility. Government operations rarely operate with a business-focused process.

Competition spurs innovation and efficiency. We need to open competition in the insurance market. We should permit access to out-of- state companies that can write a variety of policies that meet individual needs. Each state should make sure these companies properly serve the customers in their state.

For those who can’t afford health insurance, we already have Medicaid. Let’s focus on fixing what isn’t working in the current Medicaid program, not scale a flawed program to cover the entire population. We could further assist the underserved through economic job growth, enabling more people to get jobs that provide insurance. Furthering that objective, we should provide incentives for small businesses who currently aren’t able to offer affordable insurance to their employees, such as providing financial benefit to join co-operative insurance groups with other employers.

For those who don’t feel like they need insurance, we should require policy options with high deductibles for catastrophic situations that cover large, unexpected bills. If some people still refuse coverage, then they assume responsibility and the legal consequences just as they would for not having car insurance or other insurance.

“Medicare for All” and its government bureaucracy will also stifle innovation in our healthcare – which is currently ranked among the best in the world and delivers quality care promptly. There are better solutions available to improve our healthcare system rather than giving total control over to a bloated federal government.